Ranking Web of World Universities: 2010 edition
The first 2010 edition of the Ranking Web of Universities is already
available in the webometrics site (http://www.webometrics.info),
including a larger coverage and improved methodology. The ranking
started in 2004 analyzes more than 18,000 universities worldwide
providing the classification for the top 8,000, many of them from
developing countries traditionally ignored in other rankings.
The basic premise is that in the 21st century the web should reflect the
organization, activities, research results, knowledge transfer,
prestige, and international visibility of the universities. If the web
performance of an institution is below the expected position according
to their academic excellence, university authorities should reconsider
their web policy, promoting substantial increases of the volume and
quality of their electronic publications.
The web indicators are easy to collect and analyze and since the results
are similar to those obtained for a few hundred universities by other
far more complex and expensive rankings, the Ranking Web provide in this
way the opportunity of obtaining reliable ranks for several thousand
institutions.
The Ranking web with its large coverage allows comparisons not only
between universities but also countries and regions, highlighting the
role of nation building institutions that are non-research intensive
oriented.
Academic ranking is only one of the aims of the webometrics site, as
showing bad web policies and promoting the Open Access initiatives are
objectives targeted explicitly.
Web presence measures the activity and visibility of the institutions
and it is a good indicator of impact and prestige of universities. Rank
summarizes the global performance of the University, provides
information for candidate students and scholars, and reflects the
commitment to the dissemination of scientific knowledge. “The university
must seek excellence. The recognition of the institutions corresponds to
the international community and to the economic, social and politic
agents involved in the university activity. Nowadays, the best way to
measure all of these acknowledgments is through the measure of the Web
link visibility, a true virtual referendum about the university
excellence”, said Isidro Aguillo, editor of the Ranking (Cybermetrics
Lab – CSIC).
With respect to the results, like in previous editions, the first
positions are occupied by North American and Canadian universities, with
a virtual draw on first position between Harvard and MIT, followed by
Stanford, Berkeley, etc. European universities appear still in delayed
positions, with the first one being Cambridge ranked on the 27th place.
Regarding to results according to region, the first ones are:
• Latin America: Sao Paulo, closely followed by UNAM
• Europe: Cambridge and Oxford
• Eastern Europe: Charles University (Prague)
• Asia: Tokyo University
• South East Asia: National University of Singapore
• South Asia: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
• Oceania: Australian National University
• Africa: University of Cape Town
The Ranking Web is being elaborated by the Cybermetrics Lab is a
research group belonging to the National Research Council (CSIC), the
main public research organization in Spain. Since mid-nineties this
group has designed web indicators for describing and evaluating the
higher education and R&D sectors. The Ranking Web is widely used by
students, scholars and directive staff of universities all over the
world, receiving more than 4 million visitors per year.
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Isidro F. Aguillo, HonPhD
Cybermetrics Lab
CCHS - CSIC
Albasanz, 26-28, 3C1. 28037 Madrid. Spain
Ph. 91-602 2890. Fax: 91-602 2971
isidro.aguillo @ cchs.csic.es
www. webometrics.info
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